Hope & Gloria - Sewing Inspiration for Children

Friday, August 16, 2013

This morning's workshop was just lovely. After a quick practice at backstitch we got to work to make some lovely "Fab Fabric Pictures" all with a Summer theme. There were beach huts, vintage caravans and cupcakes a plenty all appliquéd on to Summer bright fabric and framed ready to adorn the walls and bring the Summer sunshine indoors.

Everyone who came along worked brilliantly and should be hugely proud of the results they achieved. Here are some of the gorgeous results:

As always an enormous well done to all who came along.

This was the last of the Hope & Gloria workshops for this Summer Holiday. It will soon be time to get sewing on our fabulous Autumn projects when we return to our school sewing clubs in three weeks time - everyone at Hope & Gloria HQ is very excited!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

As I have mentioned before I am a total fabric addict. I could spend hours in fabric shops and on-line hunting for new patterns and colours to use in my sewing projects. Sometimes I just buy because I like it and put it away knowing it will come in use for something at some point (hopefully).

And then there are the occasions when you see fabric and someone automatically springs to mind. This is exactly what happened with the two projects I made yesterday.

My Mother-in-law is arriving for a visit tomorrow and this bag is part of her birthday present from the family. When I first saw this sailing themed fabric I knew it would be perfect for her - she is a fan of taupe/beige colours and used to sail a lot, so this lovely patterned fabric couldn't be better. I used it as a centre panel and added a base and upper edge in taupe polka dot to make it a little more interesting. The handles are also made from the dotty fabric. As the sailing themed fabric has a splash of pink here and there, I used a pink ticking stripe cotton as the lining which looks fab. It's an ideal bag for the beach or summer shopping - I hope she loves it.

I am officially banned by my family from acquiring any more pets - we currently have a dog, a cat and three guinea pigs so I guess we do have quite a menagerie. If that ban was ever lifted I would love to have a dog just like this gorgeous girl - Bella.

She belongs to a very special friend and is the sweetest dog I know (except for Elsie our dachshund, of course). My friend and Bella came to mind when I found this adorable fabric and I began to think about what I could make with it. Animal themed fabric can often be just too cutesy for my liking but I was delighted to find this simple but classy taupe fabric with a delightful black Labrador motif and cream dot - perfect for a gift for a friend.

This is what I made...

... a cute and quirky, teapot cosy. Tea cosies are a great way to bring a decorative touch to a kitchen. Even if you don't use a teapot they look good sitting on a shelf or a tray to bring a lovely vintage accent to the room. They are easy to make - I am a huge fan. To finish off I added cream bobble edging to tone in with the cream dot of the fabric and cream calico lining, but ribbon or bias binding are just as good when it comes to adding a finishing touch.

So that's my second gift completed and ready to give - must be time for tea. xx

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Yesterday morning I had the best time making these adorable "No Sew Fabric Hearts" with a lovely group of children. These hearts are another brilliant way to make use of outgrown clothes and to upcycle them into a simple but very pretty and summery decoration for the home,

We used lots of brightly coloured "Summery" fabric to make our hearts cute and colourful. These were followed by button hearts in summer brights to bring a splash of summer sunshine indoors.

As always a huge well done to all of you that attended - your hearts were "lovely"!

If you didn't manage to make it to this workshop you can click here to find full instructions to make one of your own at home. Enjoy!

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Last Friday we had a fabulous workshop in Sunningdale - Upcycled T-Shirt Bags. The girls who came along for the morning were incredibly creative and walked away with some truly stunning creations that will look great on the beach, at a barbecue or shopping around town. Well done to everyone who attended - some of your beautiful bags are featured below.

For those of you who were unable to attend I thought I'd share this tutorial on how to make your own bag from an outgrown or pre-loved t-shirt. These bags are a great quick make and an inexpensive way to accessorise this Summer.

You will need:

1 t-shirt, thread, and something to decorate. For this bag I used funky wide ribbon that I had left over from another project but beads, buttons or pieces of fabric can be used to decorate. (For ideas take a look at the bags that were made in the workshop below)

Step one:

Make the openings for the bag by cutting off the sleeves but leaving the armhole seams in place as this will act to add strength to your handles. Cut a deep rounded "V" shape around the neck opening of the t-shirt. This should reach to just below the bottom edge of the armholes.

Step two:

Now you need to strengthen the edges of your bag. Fold the fabric edges inwards by 1/2cm and sew small neat stitches around the edge. You can use any stitch to reinforce the edges and prevent fraying. For this bag I used over stitch in a contrasting thread. Fold and sew around all of the three edges you have cut in step one.

Step three

Now you need to change your t-shirt shape into a bag. To do this line up the side seams of the t-shirt so that they are lying one directly on top of the other. The previous armholes have now become handles and these too should line up with each when laid flat.

Step four

Time to decorate. This is when you can be as creative as you like. I have added some wide ribbon and a bow across the front of this bag.

Step five

Trim your bag to size. If you leave the shape as it is you will have more of a rectangle shaped bag, or you can trim some of the fabric from the bottom as I did here to make more of a square shaped bag.

Step six

Turn your bag inside out and again make sure that the side seams are lined up in the middle lying one on top of the other. The handles at the top should also lie on top of each other. Pin and sew across the bottom of the bag. Backstitch is best for this as it will make the seam stronger.

Once this is done turn your bag the right way round and it is ready for use - a fabulous upcylced accessory!

Here are some of the bags that we made at the Hope & Gloria Sewing Workshop last week.Top tip: For these bags we used "vest" style t-shirts. The shape of the t-shirts means that it is not necessary to trim and sew the seams around the top so you don't have to do stage one and two above. Don't they look brilliant?

Hope & Gloria Childrens' Sewing

About Me

Hello my name is Keeley. I am the Founder and Director of Hope & Gloria Ltd and I am very lucky that my favourite pastime and passion is also my career. I started Hope & Gloria Ltd four years ago with a sewing club at my childrens' school. Today at Hope & Gloria my team and I teach 550, 7 to 11 year olds how to sew each week. Our clubs run in schools across the East Berkshire and North Surrey area. We also run hugely popular holiday workshops. It is quite simply incredibly rewarding. I love everything about my job from designing the projects we make in our clubs through to seeing them completed by the children who come to our clubs. Children adore making cool and funky accessories which they are proud to take home.
Sewing has always been a passion of mine. I was lucky enough to be taught to sew, embroider and knit by my truly wonderful Grandmother and Aunt from the age of five. This led to a lifelong passion and these days I remain addicted to beautiful fabric.
My other full time job is being a Mum to my three amazing boys aged 13, 12 and 10 - my most rewarding challenge.
I live in Berkshire with my fab husband Giles, our boys, our dog Elsie and cat Bear.